ENVIRONMENTAL GEOMORPHOLOGY

Geography 306

Fall 2004

Instructor: Randall Schaetzl

Office: 413 Natural Science

Office Hours: M-W 9:00 - 12:00 and most other times that I am in my office

email: soils@msu.edu

Mailbox: 314 Natural Science

Contacts, emergency or otherwise: Ph. 353-7726 (office), 347-0164 (home)

TEXT: Hugget, R.J. 2003. Fundamental of Geomorphology. Routledge Publishers.

LECTURES: M, W 3:00-4:20 in Rm. 145 Natural Science Building

COURSE GOALS: Although this course has no specific prerequisites, it is intended for those students who have a basic background in physical geography, biology, geology, soils and/or earth science. The major goal of GEO 306 is to provide students with an understanding of the evolution of Earth’s physical landscape, so that they can later utilize this knowledge in making sound and intelligent environmental decisions. Emphasis will be on process vs form, with the premise that a knowledge of one may allow for accurate estimation of the other. Knowledge of process and form may allow one to make inferences about the two in a spatial sense: this is the essence of geographical geomorphology. Landform dating techniques (both sediments and the surfaces that comprise them) will be stressed. I will attempt to help everyone understand why a knowledge of landform and surface ages is important to land management. Examples of environmental management and mismanagement of the physical landscape will permeate but not dominate the course lectures and readings.

REQUIREMENTS:

General: Regular attendance is assumed, though not taken or checked. Expectations (and the final course curve) for graduate students will be the same as for undergraduates, with two exceptions: (1) graduate students will be expected to participate in all field trips, (2) expectations as per the quality of the term paper will be slightly greater for graduate students.

Readings: Most readings will come from the text, which I expect you to have read before class!

Exams and Assignments: GEO 306 has three 30-minute quizzes and a final exam, all of which will be of essay/short answer/definition format, along with some (few) objective questions. The quizzes will be given during the last half of class. The final exam is cumulative.

Paper: All students will write a 3-4 page (exclusive of references, figures, and tables) term paper on a topic of their choice. This is to be a scientific paper written in scientific paper format.

             The paper must include more than simple literature review and compilation. Some aspect of field work with data collection, map (topo, soils, hydrologic, geologic, etc.) interpretation, process measurement, quantitative observational data, or historical geomorphology/land use analysis must be a component of the paper. All papers must present some original data, and analyze and interpret that data; papers that do not will be hard-pressed to achieve a passing grade (50%).

             It is suggested that the student discuss their paper topic with the professor early in the semester--as often as is necessary - to avoid avenues of research that are inappropriate or may prove to be inappropriate, unfruitful, too involved, or too simplistic. ALL students must have a one paragraph (emailed) prospectus regarding your proposed paper topic to Dr. Schaetzl by Nov 1. These prospectuses will be evaluated and can earn up to 5 bonus points, if well-done and thought-out.

             I will be happy to examine and comment on ONE proofed draft of your complete paper, provided that it is typed (please type double-spaced so I can have space to write comments). The paper will be graded on several components (approximately as follows):

              Research design and scientific method................         40%

              Neatness, grammar, spelling, writing style, etc...         30%

              Quality of original data set...................................         10%

              Organization..........................................................        10%

              Imagination and creativity....................................         10%

I will keep the paper you hand in; if you want a copy, please make one for yourself prior to handing in the paper. Please do NOT hand in papers with plastic-coated pages; it hinders my ability to write comments on the paper directly. I prefer papers to simply be stapled in the upper left corner; there is no need to dress them up in a fancy binder.

             Excessive length will not improve your grade, and may in fact detract from it. Quality matters more than quantity. The paper must be handed in no later than 5:00 p.m. on the last day of lecture (Dec 8). Papers handed in after that date will lose 20 points per day. Obviously, this means that papers handed in five days (or more) late will receive a grade of zero, regardless of their content or quality. Exceptions are granted only in cases of extreme illness or extenuating circumstances. Papers must be neatly typed, single-spaced, and all pages must be numbered. Spelling and grammar COUNT! Use of metric and Celsius units will be viewed favorably. All figures and tables should have a title/caption. References to at least some scholarly works MUST be included in your paper; use of your textbook as a reference is acceptable but additional citations will be needed. Use of lecture notes as a citation/reference is not acceptable. I suggest you use GEOREF or MAGIC2 at the library as search tools to find some sources of work similar to yours. You may use any reference style that you wish, as long as you are consistent. Please limit the use of web pages as references; these are generally not acceptable as citations in scientific papers and thus are only barely acceptable in yours. If you do use web sites, provide the URLs of all the sites from which you may have gathered data or other information.              I will be checking for plagiarism. If I find evidence of blatant plagiarism this may result in an automatic failing grade in the class and, potentially, dismissal from the University.

             Make your paper look and be organized! I have found that the two most common sources of "point loss" for the papers in GEO 306 are (1) lack of appropriate subheadings (e.g., Introduction, Literature Review, Methods, Study Area, Results, etc.), (2) improper referencing or lack thereof, (3) choice of a paper topic that is inappropriate, e.g., no original data are gathered, and (4) no maps or figures are included for studies that would have benefitted from them. All information that is not “common knowledge” must be referenced appropriately. All papers must have a short but explanatory title page with your name, the date, etc.

             Examples of good papers completed by students from previous years are located on the “Courses Taught” section of my home page: https://project.geo.msu.edu/geo333/courses_taught.html

Field Trips: There will be three field trips in GEO 306; each trip can accommodate 6 students in a min-van. For undergraduates, the trips are not required but strongly recommended. Trips are required for graduate students. Field trips are a very important part of this course; do not count yourself out for anything less than a very important conflict.

Trip 1: SW Michigan and the Lake Michigan shoreline: Sunday, Sep 26 - worth 5 bonus points

Trip 2: Northern lower Michigan: Friday-Sunday, Oct 22-24 - worth 10 bonus points

Trip 3: The Thumb: Friday, Oct 29 - worth 5 bonus points

For all trips, the Geography Department will cover the cost of transportation. Lunches will be usually be eaten “on the run” from coolers.

For the second trip, a 3-day, 2-night trip to the northern lower peninsula of Michigan, lodging and food costs will be covered by the students. We will cook dinners and breakfasts at a house where we will be staying (a beautiful place, on a small lake), to save money. This trip is open to the first six students who sign up and pay Dr. Schaetzl a non-refundable, partial payment of $40 to cover lodging (the balance is due after the trip is over). All students that go on this trip will receive 10 bonus points.

There will also be at least two one-day field trips. Each of these trips is open to the first six students who sign up. Please do not sign up and later withdraw, i.e., be sure you can go before you sign up.

To go on a trip, just email me and tell me which trip you are interested in attending. I will compile a list. Withdrawal from the list will cost 5 points, so be sure you are really “in” before you sign up.

GRADING:

A maximum of 300 points can be earned in this course. Grades are based on a curve of the student's overall point total. Points are assigned as follows:

             First quiz...................................  30 points

             Second quiz.............................. 30 points

             Third quiz................................    40 points

             Final exam................................ 100 points

             Paper......................................... 100 points

                                                   Total: 300 points

BONUS POINTS available for students that (1) participate in field trips, and (2) get in a quality and acceptable term paper prospectus by Nov 1. Students with less than 150 total points will receive a grade of 0.0

OTHER

Every attempt will be made to use the metric/Celsius systems in GEO 306. Students should familiarize themselves with these systems of measurement.

RELATED COURSES

Graduate and advanced undergraduate level courses offered at MSU that are related in content to GEO 306 are listed below. (Courses at the 100-300 level in many other disciplines may be helpful as well, but have been omitted for space purposes.) The courses below may be taken to advance your knowledge of a certain subject area(s) in physical geography and geomorphology. I would be happy to talk to you about these courses, if you have questions.

GEO 401: Plant Geography

GEO 407: Regional Geomorphology of the United States (offered next spring)

GEO 408: Soil Geomorphology Field Study (offered next fall)

GEO 871: Seminar in Physical Geography (yes, undergrads can and do take 800-level courses)

FOR 409: Forest Hydrology

GLG 412: Glacial and Quaternary Geology

GLG 423: Survey of Environmental Geosciences

GLG 431: Sedimentology/Stratigraphy

GLG 863: Mineral-Water Interactions

RD 201: Issues and Applications in Resource Development

CSS 210: Fundamentals of Soil and Landscape Science

CSS 470: Soil Resources

LECTURE OUTLINE

DATE   TOPICS                                                                                                 READINGS

Aug 30  Introduction, geomorphology and geomorphic surfaces, slopes   1-4; 9-23

Sep 1     Geomorphological concepts and models: Davis, King                                            4-9; 314-317

              Relative dating techniques: weathering and soil formation                                     24-29 (LR 1)

Sep 6     Labor Day - no class

Sep 8     No class

Sep 13   Numerical dating techniques: tephrochronology, ¹⁰Be, ¹⁴C and OSL                     (LR 1)

Sep 15   Rocks vs minerals, bedrock-controlled landforms I. Flat-lying and folded rocks   35-40; 92-95

Sep 20   Bedrock-controlled landforms II. Faulted rocks, basin-and-range topography       104-110

Sep 22   Alluvial fans; catch up; QUIZ 1 

              Sunday Sep 26: Field trip #1 

Sep 27   Vulcanism and volcanic landforms                                                                          81-90 

Sep 29   Weathering and geomorphology                                                                              114-130

Oct 4     Soil horizons and formation, relative dating using soils                                          (LR 2)

Oct 6     Soil geomorphology, stone lines, pedimentation                                                     (LR 3)

Oct 11   Paleopedology; catch up QUIZ 2

Oct 13   Mass movement                                                                                                       46-49

Oct 18   Fluvial geomorphology: channel initiation and the drainage basin                         97-104

Oct 20   Fluvial geomorphology: flow of water in the stream channel                                 172-181

              Friday - Sunday Oct 22-24: Field trip #2

Oct 25   Fluvial geomorphology: hydraulic geometry and channel adjustments                   181-194

Oct 27   Fluvial geomorphology: landforms                                                           194-202

              Friday Oct 29: Field trip #3

Nov 1    Fluvial geomorphology: floods and human modification                                        202-208

Nov 3    Fluvial geomorphology: catch up

Nov 8    Glaciation: introduction and landforms formed via glacial erosion                         211-224

Nov 10  Glaciation: sediments and glacial deposits                                                              224-233

Nov 15  Glaciation: depositional landforms and loessial systems                                         271-273

Nov 17  History of midwestern glaciation; proglacial lakes QUIZ 3 

Nov 22  More on midwestern glaciation: the chronology and all those names 

Nov 24  Shorezones, shorelines and coastal processes                                                          278-295

Nov 29  Coastal geomorphology and coastal systems

Dec 1     Coastal geomorphology: issues on the Great Lakes                                                305

Dec 3     Groundwater and subsurface hydrology  

Dec 8     Karst and solutional landforms; caves                                                                     132-153; 161-169

Dec 10   Eolian systems and the Great Lakes’ dunefields                                                     254-271; 295-298 (LR 2)

IMPORTANT DATES

Nov 1    One paragraph (emailed) prospectus regarding your proposed paper topic to Dr. Schaetzl

Dec 8     Papers due to Dr. Schaetzl by 5:00 pm

Dec 13   FINAL EXAM (12:45-2:45)

LR - Library reserve readings